3 Shares Set to Beat the FTSE Today

LONDON -- The FTSE 100 (INDEX: ^FTSE) is still going nowhere today, hovering around 5,505 points for a tiny six-point rise on yesterday's close of 5,499 -- the first time it has closed below 5,500 this month. The market remains subdued after apparently being surprised by the inevitable deepening of Spain's banking crisis.

Spanish 10-year bond yields notwithstanding, some FTSE companies have seen nice rises today. We look at three of them, from various indexes.

LansdowneLansdowne Oil & Gas (ISE: LOGP.L) gained 5% to 66.6 pence after releasing an update on the Barryroe Resource in the Celtic Sea, of which Lansdowne owns 20%. Six wells have been drilled there in total, and all six have yielded hydrocarbons.

The latest analysis of test results indicates significantly larger quantities of oil. According to Tony O'Reilly, chief executive of field operator Providence Resources, Barryroe "is a substantial oil accumulation across multiple stacked horizons with much running room for further resource growth." This caps a very strong period for Lansdowne, whose shares have more than trebled since June.

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ARMARM Holdings (ISE: ARM.L) saw its shares boosted by 5% to 509 pence after the Cambridge-based chip designer released interim results. Revenue for the first half, in sterling terms, was up 15%, beating market expectations, while pretax profit jumped by 22%.

With earnings per share up 22%, ARM will pay an interim dividend of 1.67 pence per share, up 20% on last year. For the full year, the yield is still likely to be less than 1%, but we should hopefully see that rise over the next few years.

PetropavlovskShares in gold miner Petropavlovsk (ISE: POG.L) rose 6.8% to 407 pence following the release of strong first-half production figures. The Russia-based miner produced 279,100 ounces of the shiny stuff in the six months to June 30, which is 27% more than last year's first-half production of 219,100 ounces.

The group is still on for full-year production targets of 700,000 ounces, we were told. That should certainly help the share price, which is down around 50% on the year since gold fever started to subside.

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